JonnyM

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='697619' date='Dec 31 2009, 10:38 PM']My ME-50B had a built in "tuner" too. So does my rhythm guitarist's GT-8. Neither was any real use. Can the B9.1ut's built-in tuner really compare to something like my DT-10 or a TU-2? And I take it from your [s]gushing[/s] enthusing about the DI ( ) that it'd be a useable alternative to my VXL Bass Attack? Mark[/quote] Well, the Zoom's tuner has no problem tracking low notes, even low B string tuned down to an A. I've not done direct comparisons with a DT-10 or TU-2, but what I do know is tuning up with the Zoom has never given me problems - I tune up, I'm in tune with myself & other instruments and that's it really - what more do you want from a tuner?! Ok, it's probably not as accurate as a Sonic Research tuner, but then nor is a DT-10 or a TU-2 The VXL is a DI with tone shaping and seeing as the B9.1 has both capabilities, I don't see why you need the VXL. My criteria for a DI is: does it work noiselessly and without degrading the signal or getting complaints from sound engineers I've used the B9.1's DI(s) for live & recording and the answer is yes on all counts, so it's less "enthusing", more "yup, this works in these circumstances, I can forget about it"

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='696087' date='Dec 30 2009, 04:44 AM']The bit in bold italics is the bit that I'm concerned with. I guess maybe it comes down to what you're doing with any effects you're using - for a live covers band, a good MFX may be more apropriate. For a guy at home or in a studio, experimenting and trying to perfectly nail that unusual tone he has in his head, maybe separates are the way to go. If I bought all the pedals I now think I might need, the total cost would be over €1000 (though I already have the DT-10 & VXL) . . . DT-10 - €100 Weeping Demon - €130 Bass Blogger - €70 MicroPOG - €190 Sweeper - €130 #1 Echo - €70 Bass Xciter - €120 Punch Factory - €120 VXL Bass Attack - €100 I've been excited about the prospect of using separate pedals, but wary of the cost and the continuous tweaking that'd be involved. IMO, this . . . looks cooler than this . . . But I guess how your pedalboard looks is less important than how suitable your FX set-up is for your application. The B9.1ut is €320 - that's €600 or so cheaper than if I chose separates. Or in other words, €130 shy of the price of a new Peavey amp/cab set-up . . . JohnnyM - do you use the B9.1ut's DI live? If yes, how do you find it? What else have you used to compare it with? Pity Zoom didn't make the bass MFX in black like the guitar ones - the red is gick. Keep the opinions coming guys - this is good. Mark[/quote] Plenty of top bass guitarists playing original music use separates live, but they often have custom boards that almost work like a multi... One other thing to consider when using a big ol' board: if an interconnect goes faulty, you are royally screwed. Yup, all those fancy pedals can suddenly be rendered useless. It only ever happened to me once and in a rehearsal fortunately, but it took about 30mins to figure out which interconnect was the problem and fix it. Not funny and it was a major factor in me looking for alternatives. And don't forget in your separates scenario, you'll have to factor in the cost of a power supply, interconnects, a pedalboard and case. That's a whole lot of extra wedge to find, not that I'm trying to put you off or anything I have used the DI live and I believe the sound person's words were, "Now [i]that's[/i] a great bass sound!" Although he was referring to the bypassed tone, I took from that that the DI was ok I've used a Sansamp as a DI and it was good, but I never got on with it's scooped tone... Tried a few multis a long time ago, so I don't know how more recent MFX compare with the B9.1. The lag and dropout when switching really put me off and the bypassed tone was universally bad. The new MFX are very different to those old tone-suckers though. Yeah, the red isn't great but really, who cares? Who even notices effects boards except other musos and if it works for you, the coolness factor is irrelevant IMHO. If I ever make it big, I might pay someone to re-box it. Hell, on a rainy day with nothing else to do, I might even crack open some old Airfix paints and give it a custom paint job myself! One point: the B9.1 has a built-in tuner, so you won't need an external one. You can probably get rid of the VXL too

[quote name='PURPOLARIS' post='695370' date='Dec 29 2009, 08:51 AM']This is a great topic I've been thinking about effects recently and was wondering which route to go so I'm following this topic with a lot of interest. By the sounds of things it would be better for me to go the expensive multi-FX route (as opposed to the cheap multi fx route). I quite fancy the Zoom one with the valve in it, I think it's the B9 and has been mentioned by the OP. Does anyone have any experience with this pedal ?[/quote] I changed from separates - Compressor, OD & Fuzz in a loop, Octaver, Trem, and Delay/Reverb - to a Zoom B9.1ut and have no regrets whatsoever The reasons I changed were: I wanted to add to the board, but that would have meant making bigger one, 'cos I'd run out of room. The whole caboodle, with a power supply and case, was pretty heavy and getting bigger would, of course, have meant more weight. The main reason though, was playing live was a pain, having to tweak pedals between and sometimes during songs - and not always getting it right either! Also, people said it looked weird that I kept "disappearing" - ie bending down to do "something". (Not being musos, they didn't know exactly what I was doing, but the observation was that it detracted from the performance somewhat). I definitely didn't want to compromise on sound quality for the sake of comfort or ease of use though. All these drawbacks and pitfalls have been addressed with the B9.1ut: it's got more effects than I'll ever need and once you get into editing, they sound really good. They can be easily tweaked and saved - even during soundcheck if needs be. It's pretty light but sturdy, has stereo DIs and an excellent bypass. The control pedal is unique as it has horizontal as well as vertical movement, all programmable. And obviously there's no need to bend down - it's all in the footwork! Oh and seeing as lag has been mentioned, IME it tends to be a problem with multi effects, but the Zoom has, they say, the fastest switching of any multi: 7 milliseconds. Whatever, it's as fast as any separate I've used, that is to say in the real world the Zoom has no lag or drop-out when switching. Okay, so it's not been made by a pedal genius in a shed in the Estonia and painted by some maverick artist, but stepping away from pedal snobbery, this multi just does the trick(s). Can't see myself going back to separates, unless I get a gig where I only need one effect like, say, a overdrive... And I've even got used to the color

[quote name='gafbass02' post='648774' date='Nov 8 2009, 02:01 PM'](edit)...The critical thing is where the boss let me down, i just want the effect to come in at the same damn volume as my clean sound, everytime!, Not ok at home and then too quiet or too loud each time i have to unplug the thing. Real straightforward set and forget, like pedals, but less of a pain to lug about! So the zoom b9.1ut has come to my attention... Has anyone gigged this unit for any time?, can i just set an overall EQ and COMPRESSION and then just press a pedal for chorus, just chorus, not chorus and 1969 fliptop precision, room reverbed, output corrected wangeflobulator!! just one for chorus, one for drive, one for chorus+reverb, one for wah, one for synth, one for flange etc that just adds the effect to my sound as is at the same level [color="#FF0000"]everytime!??[/color]...(edit)[/quote] I've gigged a Zoom B9.1ut for a while now, but I've set it up so I have a patch with various effects per song (that can be switched in and out or not if you prefer). I'm pretty sure that just one patch would do everything you want and I have no problem with output levels either - they are very easy to change and store, and you can clean-blend effects too. Bottom line for me is the sounds I've programmed and tweaked are great but you HAVE to spend some time reading the manual and getting your head 'round how this thing works. I use distortion, fuzz, chorus, trem, octaver, flange, reverb, mad delay, eq and compression...and I'm still tweaking! Check out the manual on this page here: [url="http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/download/manual/english.php"]Zoom B9.1ut Manual[/url] Once you get how it works and if you can handle the colour(!), I think this a fantastic multi and it weighs LOADS less than my old individual pedal set-up Feel free to fire questions at me if the Boss doesn't work out

[quote name='Fraktal' post='646159' date='Nov 5 2009, 12:21 PM']My markbass combo has an internal jumper to switch between american/european voltages. Opening it is really easy and fast, you only need an allen wrench. Considering the LMII head and the combo head have identical specs and electronics, I wouldn't rule out Markbass... There are several jumpers there inside, I remember another one to switch the DI XLR output between pre or post. Surely you can find pics and info if you google for it, I saw it all a few months ago...[/quote] ...And a loud bang will be the last sound your Markbass amp will ever make... Fireworks provided by Markbass Seriously though, there is a way of doing this, but IIRC it's a fiddly job and involves soldering. It also involves invalidating the warranty... Amps by other manufacturers either change automatically or have a switch somewhere that does the job.

[quote name='funkle' post='645952' date='Nov 5 2009, 08:13 AM']I'd run into that quote too, but in the thread I posted over in Talkbass, someone else has mentioned that, even in spite of taking this into account, the EA's appear to be less loud. I wonder whether it could be because the tone is very uncoloured. Nonetheless, this person felt, that into an Acme B2, his Markbass F1 was louder, even accounting for the settings of the volume controls. His words were to the effect that the EA Micro maxed out = Markbass F1 at 75%. Although I don't know if he formally checked this with an SPL meter. As you say though, there's only one way to ultimately find out... I'm going to see if I can get an AI Focus/Clarus and an EA iAmp Micro 550 in the same room as my Acme B2. I hope I don't have to buy both of them![/quote] It also comes down to what's loud enough for you in the real world ie your gigs, recording sessions etc. as opposed to just testing how loud various amps can go, at levels you'll never use. I for one have never come close to 75% of maximum with my LMII in a gig, more like 25%...maybe 38% . Since all my gigs have good monitors and full PA support, I get asked politely to turn down unless I'm on a big stage where a bit more oomph is needed. Another option I've considered is the Gallien Kruger MB2 500, but they seem very unreliable and it's hit-and-miss as to whether you get a good one- there's a massive Talkbass thread on the subject The AI gear does look great, if kinda pricey.

[quote name='walbassist' post='645672' date='Nov 4 2009, 08:31 PM']I was going to get a 2nd gen Micro, but the skinny on Talkbass is that it's not really [i]that[/i] loud, so I passed...[/quote] I've been considering the Micro too and was going to skip it for the same reason, but am now reconsidering after finding this on a site that sells EA gear: "Rather than have all the volume in the first turn of the knob, EA uses potentiometers that are more linear. This means you may actually have to turn the master volume all the way up to the 3 o'clock position when things get really, really loud. This gives you a more realistic measure of how much power you are using. Most other amp manufacturers (and think stereos, car radios, etc.) use a taper that puts all the volume up front. This is to impress unsuspecting customers trying gear in stores. "Wow, listen to how loud it is, and it's only on 2? ," he says, and thinks to himself, ”This thing must get really loud!!” Nope, they're just fooling with you. It pretty much stops getting louder around 5, and then only gets more distorted. EA thinks it's better to use the entire volume control. You'll otherwise never actually attain the mythic eleven. Is this an EA Exclusive?? We're not sure, but we think others should follow their example. Euphonic Audio says respect your customers, don't try to fool them. " I have a Barefaced Compact, which is pretty sensitive, so I'm tempted to give the Micro a try. Acmes, on the other hand, are, as walbassist says, reknown for sucking up the power, but there's really only one way to find out if the combination works...

Attention! I'm off to see Captain Manring (rolleyes.gif) this afternoon for a "Bass Masterclass" at Chappell's on Wardour St. at 3pm - free admission too, but you need to reserve: [url="http://www.chappellofbondstreet.co.uk/"]Chappell's website[/url]